The invention will be explained below in an exemplary manner by means of chewing gum as the object to be processed and to be conveyed. In as far as chewing gum, chewing-gum strips or strips of chewing gum, or chewing-gum slabs or chewing-gum sheets are mentioned below, this is to be understood only in an exemplary manner. The present invention, apart from chewing gum, also relates to any other type of two-dimensional, strip-shaped or sheet-shaped objects, in particular to objects as preliminary products or intermediate products of the foodstuff industry, which, following suitable further processing and portioning, are suitable for human consumption. For example, these may also be preliminary products or intermediate products of the bakery or confectionery industry and the like. However, two-dimensional, strip-shaped or sheet-shaped products which are not intended for consumption, such as, for example, medical products or pharmaceutical products, such as medical diagnostic strips, blister packages and the like, are also included.
It is an essential feature of all objects of this type that they are manufactured as a two-dimensional, strip-shaped or sheet-shaped or slab-shaped preliminary product or intermediate product in a continuously operating device and thereafter are transferred to a downstream device in which the objects, or the object sub-units formed from the former, are conveyed onward and, in particular, further processed. The latter further-processing device here is, in particular, a device in which individual product portions (e.g. in the present case individual chewing-gum strips which are intended for consumption) are formed from the supplied larger preliminary product or intermediate product (or the object sub-unit, respectively), wherein the individual products formed in this manner are then packed, in particular also packed individually or in groups, in the further-processing device.
In the case of chewing gum, such a further-processing device, or packaging machine, for example, is described in the German patent application 10 2011 075 439. In this chewing-gum packaging machine, initially comparatively large rectangular slabs, in particular strips, from chewing-gum material are provided at the machine entry, which slabs are then introduced into the packaging machine and from which slabs the individual strip-shaped chewing-gum portions intended for consumption are formed in said packaging machine. These individual chewing-gum strips are subsequently packed in the machine, individually and/or in groups. In the case of this and other known chewing-gum packaging machines, the supplied comparatively large rectangular or elongated chewing-gum slabs or chewing-gum strips are provided at the machine entry, stacked in a magazine, from where they are individually removed one after another, and successively introduced into the continuously operating packaging machine. Typically, each of these larger chewing-gum strips may be dimensioned such that subsequently, for example, about 40 individual product strips (chewing-gum strips) intended for consumption are formed from this product slab in the packaging machine, wherein these formed individual chewing-gum strips are subsequently packed and conveyed onward in the machine.
In the case of the known chewing-gum packaging machines, the mentioned larger rectangular or elongate chewing-gum slabs, which are provided at the machine entry, are typically formed as an intermediate product from a larger sheet of chewing-gum material. Here, these larger chewing-gum sheets are typically uniformly divided into a plurality of identical elongated chewing-gum slabs which were mentioned earlier. The larger, sheet-shaped preliminary products of chewing-gum material, i.e. sheets, are, at an earlier stage, typically formed on a rolling mill from a continuous strand or carpet which is made from a dough of chewing-gum material. Subsequent to the rolling mill, weakening regions, in particular scores or perforation lines, which usually run parallel to the conveying direction of the chewing-gum carpet, are formed initially here in the continuous chewing-gum carpet by means of scoring rollers or knife rollers, or other suitable installations. Individual chewing-gum sheets are then severed from the continuous chewing-gum carpet by means of a cross-cutting installation. The chewing-gum sheet formed in this manner is dimensioned and calibrated here such that subsequently an integer multiple number of the elongate chewing-gum slabs, which are to be introduced into the downstream packaging machine, results, wherein these individual, elongate chewing-gum slabs are formed from the chewing-gum sheet by means of the weakening regions or scores or perforation lines which are present in the chewing-gum sheet. The afore-described process of manufacturing the scored chewing-gum sheet as a preliminary product or an intermediate product is referred to in the industry as a “rolling-and-scoring process”.
The elongate chewing-gum slabs which are provided at the entry of the processing machine or packaging machine are divided in an analogous manner in the machine into the smaller chewing-gum strips, as individual portions intended for consumption. The larger chewing-gum slabs, as preliminary products, here are again provided with regularly arranged weakening regions or scores or perforation lines, along which the individual strips, as final products, are then severed in each case in the machine. This operation is also referred to in the industry as a “rolling-and-scoring process”.